Scope and Content Note
The Don Walker Collection spans the years 1932-1984 and primarily relates to Walker's professional career. It is organized into the following series: Personal and Business Papers, Writings, Photographs, and Music. The Personal and Business Papers series contains Walker’s files along with other items that were in miscellaneous folders and envelopes, or loose inside the boxes in which the collection had been shipped. Loose items relating to a particular topic or show were placed in the relevant folders in Walker's files. In addition, programs were placed in folders for their respective shows. The clippings file within this series consists of photocopies of all the loose newspaper clippings. In a few instances, items from one folder were removed and placed in either a pre-existing folder or a newly created one. In most cases, this was done so that correspondence for a significant figure could be clearly identified and placed together in one folder making it easier to find. For example, correspondence from Jerry Bock had been in the “Miscellaneous correspondence” and “Theatre people (corres.)” files, and correspondence from John Kander had been in “Correspondence from the 1960s,” “Correspondence from the 1980s,” and “Miscellaneous correspondence” files. Numbers in parentheses after a folder title indicates the number of folders with that title.
The Music series is divided into two subseries: Show Music and Non-Show Music. The former includes scores and scripts for musicals, radio and television shows, and films; and incidental music for straight plays. The show music is organized alphabetically by show title. Within a show, where all formats exist in quantity, items are first broken down by format, such as full score, piano-vocal score, part, script, and then alphabetically by song title (where appropriate) therein. In cases where there are various items in various formats, the entirety is organized by song title. Many scores were either combinations of, or could arguably be designated, one or more of the following: short score, piano-conductor score, piano-vocal score, vocal arrangement, reduced score, or lead sheet. Many folders contain multiple copies and various versions of the same piece, but there is no way to determine this through the finding aid.
Much of the Non-Show Music includes songs that were written for shows but, by all appearances, were arranged or used by Walker for recordings, concerts, or other events. This material is organized by the title of an individual work or, in a few cases, first by a particular project and then alphabetically by the works therein. In most cases, the project title was directly taken off Walker's folder or portfolio which contained the scores. Primary examples are: College Songs; deMille, Agnes (Dance Theatre); Glad Singers; Hartley Ray; Lindencroft Music; Oriental Suite; Rittman Study Material; Romberg, Sigmund; Songs (with Matt Dubinsky). Even though most of the music in this subseries is either composed or arranged by Walker, there is a significant portion which lacks a clear connection to Walker. Many of the published piano-vocal scores in this subseries include annotations by Walker reflecting his notes on how the song might be arranged. Most of the published piano-vocal scores that lacked annotations were not kept in the collection as they seemed to reveal nothing beyond the fact that Walker owned them.
The Writings series includes materials relating to two of his novels, portions from his incomplete memoir, course materials, and miscellaneous lyric sheets. The Photographs series includes portraits of Walker and photographs of his family.